(BOSTON) — Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said on Friday that its board more than tripled the salary of CEO Lloyd Blankfein to $2 million, and also tripled salaries for four other top executives.

The investment bank said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on Friday that its board's compensation committee set the new base salary for Blankfein, effective Jan. 1. His previous salary had been $600,000.

The committee set salaries at $1.85 million for four other executives who also had previously received $600,000. They are Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn; Chief Financial Officer David Viniar and Vice Chairmen Michael Evans and John Weinberg. (See "The Big Bad Bankers, and Their Bonuses, Are Back.")

The filing didn't elaborate on the reasons for the raises, and Stephen Cohen, a spokesman for the New York-based company, declined to comment. The salaries don't include stocks, options and other compensation that executives typically receive as part of their pay package.

Goldman Sachs' move came a week after rival Citigroup Inc. gave its top executive, Vikram Pandit, a salary raise to $1.75 million from just $1 the previous year.

Goldman is considered the leading Wall Street bank, usually outdistancing its rivals with its trading and investment banking operations. But it was sharply criticized for its high compensation levels after it accepted a $10 billion government bailout during the financial crisis in 2008.

Blankfein's total compensation that year 2008 was $42.9 million, according to an Associated Press calculation.

In 2009, his compensation dropped to $862,657 — his $600,000 salary, plus perks. He received no grants of stock awards or options during 2009.

Blankfein's total compensation for 2010 hasn't yet been disclosed. In August, he reaped a $6.1 million by cashing in more than 90,000 stock options before they expired in November.

On Jan. 19, Goldman Sachs said its fourth-quarter profit fell 53 percent due to sharp declines in its bond trading and investment banking businesses. The company earned $2.23 billion after paying preferred dividends in the last three months of the year, down from $4.79 billion in the same period year earlier.

Goldman employees were paid $15.38 billion in salaries and bonuses, or 39.3 percent of its annual revenue, for 2010. The amount was 5 percent lower than 2009.